Solidarity AccorHotels and ibis Family united for a special award!

For over ten years, the commitments undertaken all over the world by ibis hotels have been rewarded. In 2016, the Group gave centre stage to these initiatives by organising an international competition, the "ibis Family Stars Contest", in which Solidarity AccorHotels joined by presenting a special award during the ceremony held on 2 March 2017.

The "ibis Family Stars Contest" challenge rewards hotels of the ibis family in two major categories: the service culture, or how Accorhotels teams demonstrate innovation, passion and confidence to deliver a tailored Customer Experience; and the social responsibility of the hotel, itself divided into two sub-categories: "Human" and "Green".

Solidarity AccorHotels wished to bring its expertise to the table, taking part in the "Social Responsibility" jury to highlight an action that responds to the issue of the professional integration of disadvantaged people, by presenting a special prize worth EUR 1,000. The ibis Moscow Dynamo and the charity "Arifmetika Dobra" ("Good maths" in Russian) were the clear winners of this competition, and were rewarded for their commitment in favour of young people in difficulties.

Mr. Raif Agzibuyuk, General Manager of the hotel, talks to us about this project which matters a lot to him:

1-What made you want to do this?

"Helping disadvantaged teenagers and young people seemed an obvious choice: as adults, we have a true responsibility concerning their future! It is our duty to help the young today to make them the actors of the world of tomorrow. We are convinced that by giving them support from positive figures, mentors who stand by them to accompany them through their life, we offer them a chance to make the choices that are most suitable for their future."

2-What concrete actions have you have put in place for these young people?

"We have organised multiple actions in our hotel: for instance, we invited a group of teenage orphans of the Arifmetika Dobra Foundation to discover the world of hospitality and all the trades it has to offer: how to run a hotel, a restaurant and the front desk. Our bartenders gave them a demonstration of how to make cocktails. Maybe we have inspired a few vocations!

In addition, we are constantly working with schools and professional institutes such as Vatel or the Moscow professional schools: we are always happy to welcome trainees wishing to learn our trades and to convey our enthusiasm to them. Today, seven of them have joined our team, and we're very proud!

We are trying take things a step further in what we can offer the young people in difficulty and the schools. Our hotel has in fact become the reference in "master classes": our Sub-Chef Dimitri regularly holds demonstrations of how to cut beef and poultry, cooking and how to make hors d'eouvres.

This commitment is shared and supported by the entire hotel team, which gives our actions greater meaning and impact."

3-What is your assessment of your actions?

"Today, I think that we are as recognised for our solidarity commitments in favour of the young as for our qualified staff or our reasonable rates. The results of our actions have allowed us to forge close and specific ties with orphanages, hospitals, schools, associations, as well as with our customers!

We think it is essential to focus on setting up actions that last in time: to accompany young people on their journey and lead them to a stable life and future!

This commitment is more than ever at the heart of our hotel, of our work. We do, of course, wish to pursue our initiatives, but also to give other hotels the desire to take up such commitments. We will share our experience with them and show them to what extent this may have beneficial returns, on customers, employees, and the image of our business. This special prize presented by Solidarity AccorHotels is a wonderful example of this!"